The nonprofit Search One Rescue Team, which has a mobile base command center at D/FW Airport, has grown from six to 32 human volunteers plus 23 canines since its founding in 1983. The team has worked with more than 200 law enforcement agencies and has answered about 1,400 calls.

Frankie, a 6-year-old black Labrador retriever, couldn’t cut it at his first job training to become a seeing-eye dog in San Antonio. His energy level was just too high.

But he found his calling with Dallas’ Search One Rescue Team, which is observing its 30th year of locating lost and missing people.

“It’s a unique way to give back to the community. We enjoy working outdoors and we like dogs. This fits all those criteria,” said Steve Deutsch, Frankie’s handler.

Since Search One Rescue’s founding by Paul Lake in 1983, the nonprofit has grown from six to 32 human volunteers plus 23 canines. The team has worked with more than 200 law enforcement agencies, mostly in north central Texas, and has answered about 1,400 calls. In 2000, teams searched for remains after the Fort Worth tornado, and in 2003, they spent 11 days on a recovery mission after space shuttle Columbia disintegrated across the state.

“They are outstanding people. They provide a very nice service for agencies that don’t have dogs for that expertise,” said Lt. Mike Hollier of the Arlington Police Department, noting a case in which Lake and his dog, Shadow, helped track a missing Alzheimer’s patient. “It’s a comfort for us to know that we have that sort of resource to fall back on.”

In 2012, Frankie had his first confirmed find after following the scent of decomposition to a creek bed in Ellis County, where he found the remains of a young boy.

“They’re a great tool for law enforcement, because they help us build a case,” said Michelle Grigg, a child abuse investigator with the Carrollton Police Department.

To prepare for calls, the team trains tirelessly.

Each week, team members can be found near their base trailer in a field near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for their training session.

Search One Rescue Team is composed of search managers, who organize the missions using tracking devices and radios; canine handlers like Deutsch; and flankers, who accompany the dog and the handler and manage activities including getting the assignment and helping with search strategy.

“It’s always got to be fun for the dogs,” said Deutsch, who’s been with the team since 1999. The dogs specialize in disaster training; human remains detection; air scent, meaning they can trace any live human; and tracking, which is scent-specific.

Frankie specializes in human remains detection. During a recent training session, his objective was to find a cloth covered in dried blood. When released in the small, grassy area, he took off. Within seconds, Frankie sat down, signifying he had found the object, and then eagerly enjoyed his reward: a tug-of-war game with Deutsch.

The four-hour weekend session marks just a fraction of the hours the handlers practice with their dogs independently. They also spend thousands of dollars annually on training and gear. It takes an average of eight to 10 months to train as a flanker and an additional 12 to 18 months to train as a canine handler.

But neither the time nor money seems to deter the volunteers.

“It’s got to be something that’s in your system, you just love it,” said Lake, who also works as a director of business development. “You like the challenge. You like the team effort. You like the ability to help people.”